Lots o' good posts on this subject. "How to do the perfect Live PA" is a
topic that I spend alot of time thinking on...
I previously said that live gigs with laptops+mouse-terbation sucked, and
that I'd never do it myself. I must revise that statement. I still will
never do it myself (until I can feasibly rig up a custom controller unit,
plugged into a 'puter, running perhaps MAX or something customizable like
that), but I must add that I -have- experienced live laptop gigs that were
very memorable.
Someone just posted and said that, primarily, the MUSIC is what
makes/breaks a show. In retrospect, I wholeheartly agree. I also think
that you need to factor in the VENUE, as well...and choose music to
perform which is appropriate to the expectations of that venue. People
usually go to a club expecting to dance, while at a coffeeshop or art
gallery, for example, they don't. Some may see this as selling out, I do
not. If you want to be a pure *artiste* and not cater at all to the
audience's expectations, present your music in an appropriate environment.
If you want to be a *performer/entertainer*, different rules apply. If
the two things coincide, then you're lucky, I guess.
Laptop Examples: Two laptop shows I've seen which stand out are Phoenecia
and Twerk (San Francisco localboy). Phoenecia I saw in February '99 at
the Cat Club in SOMA, which has probably the BEST low-end of any club in
the city. Gear they used was a G3 laptop, Mackie 1604VLZ mixer, Alesis
Wedge & Boss SE50/70 (couldn't tell) effects units, and an EMU sampler.
One guy manned the laptop, which was running Logic (I think), and the
other guy tweaked on the sampler, with the mixer and effects between them.
They were set up on a table in the dark back room, with no visuals or
special lights. They rocked the house...let me repeat that: THEY ROCKED
THE FUCKING HOUSE. Most of the tracks they played were SUPER bass-heavy
with tuned 808-ish bass kicks and electro-y beats (Odd Job, etc). The
room was packed, dark, sweaty, LOUD, and everyone was shakin' booty. Yet,
of course, there wasn't much to see. One thing that got to me was that
Josh and Romulo were clearly having a great time and were very
energetic--they weren't inanely prancing about nor grimacing into their
screens...rather there was much headnodding and interaction between them,
which I think carried out to the crowd.
Ritchey Devine went on next, and performed with just a laptop. Although
his stuff kicked ass too, I wasn't as consumed with his performance for
some reason...I think it was because his style of music is more abstract
(to me). Lots of other people were just as driven by it, however.
More recently (a few months ago) I saw Twerk perform at a warehouse/loft
party in SF. He performed minimal techno using just a laptop. I really
got into his stuff, too. Again, there was zero to look at (I think he was
actually sitting down) but his stuff was just really nice and smooth and
interesting...it made me dance. I had never heard his stuff before, and I
don't know how "live" or dynamic his set was, but it worked for me.
Gear Examples: Another live PA I saw which stands out--I saw Jon
Drukman/Bass Kittens at the Cat Club last year, too. He had Nord Stuff
(Modular rack, Lead keyboard), some other small keyboard synth, and a Korg
Electribe ER-1 and Boss DR-660. Did electro-y stuff as well. I really
got off on the fact that he wasn't using a computer and it seemed that
lots of his stuff was improvised. I really dug it.
And on the other hand I've seen tons of people perform w/o computers,
w/ piles o'gear, and the music they made didn't appeal to me...
So I dunno...what does all this prove? I'm at a loss. I -can- say that
what definitely tweaks me off is when I see someone live who's music I've
heard before on CD or whatever, and for their live set they note-for-note
reproduce what was on the CD. I hate that--I could just sit at home
and listen in my living room. I -really- appreciate it when they
obviously play brand-new music, or keep me interested by playing
reworked-versions of existing tracks, improvised on the spot...along with
a healthy dose of "shit I'm having fun playing" energy, too.
That's what I attempt to project when we play live.
I think the -best- live shows are the ones that can't be reproduced. ;)
-JimG <skoop@slackers.net>
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